95 comments:

"You know, to me the recent scandals that happened with Genpo Roshi..... they’re really minor things. He was .... having sex with all kinds of people other than his wife. That’s not a good thing. I think it showed a lack of integrity ......, which is promoting Big Mind..... I don’t think that’s good Zen practice."

Nutrition helps but heredity is the key to good health. If your ancestors were unhealthy there is a good chance you will be also. But nothing is written because even though heredity is out of your control you can still beat the odds.. If you start eating healthy early you might stay healthy. It's a matter of karma.

"I was at one time a great lover of the medical profession. . . . I no longer hold that opinion. . . . Doctors have almost unhinged us. . . . I regard the present system as black magic. . . . Hospitals are institutions for propagating sin. Men take less care of their bodies and immorality increases. . . . ignoring the soul, the profession puts men at its mercy and contributes to the diminution of human dignity and self control.. . . I have endeavoured to show that there is no real service of humanity in the profession, and that it is injurious to mankind. . . . I believe that a multiplicity of hospitals is not test of civilization. It is rather a symptom of decay."

Well, I am a vegetarian and have been for more than 20 years. But what I eat is hardly a "paleo-diet." I mean, you can't be in Belgium without eating fries. And in Germany they would only feed me bread and cheese because everything else they eat is sausage.

The reason I don't look my age is probably a combination of genetics and zazen. I think zazen reduces your stress so you tend not to wrinkle up as much.

I’ve had some discussions about that, and I’m really suspicious of it. ... I look over and see there is a teacup with a dried-up teabag at the bottom

I think Brad is the one who needs to empty his mental teacup! :-)

Of course, Zen cannot be "taught" ... although it must be learned. But for anyone who would like to read a bit more about the strengths and weaknesses of a Zen Sangha, Jukai and even Ordinations via the internet ... dropping all thought of here there now and then, the True Face-to-Face ... have a look here ...

On his deathbed J. Krishnamurtilamented that he was surrounded bysycophants who parroted his words.He said that what he had thoughtfor 40 years was not spiritual entertainment.

Brad says that 66% of the peopleattending his lectures will notpractice. Their egos are gettingtheir zen high. I would call itthe pull of the ineffable which already exists all around them andwithin them.

"Jundo" @ 1.47am is, of course, not Jundo, but someone or other who now and again re-posts bits and pieces from the Treeleaf site, I guess to demonstrate - or instigate - something or other. In this case, what s/he's posted I can't find, not in one piece. It seems to be a copy/paste of a couple of bits from an old post over there, a bit from Brad's Tricycle i/v, and a word or two from pretend "Jundo" him/herself?

Re Nishijima's dysfunctional sangha: Jundo (no longer a "member" of "Dogen Sangha") has publicly criticised Brad in the past; Mike Luetchford's critical private email response to Brad's private email (about Brad's appointment as "President of Dogen Sangha") was made public by Gudo a few years ago and ML publicly responded to Gudo's publication. Mike Cross continues to criticize Gudo's on his blog, often using foul language (go on -have a look!)...and that's about it for "dysfunctional", as far as I'm aware. Oh yes, and Jundo was involved in a minor scuffle at a Dogen Sangha retreat a while back. Very exciting! Most of Gudo's dharma-heirs - and there are quite a few - are never heard of or from. They get on with whatever they're doing very quitely in various parts of the world. The groups are very small and require no oath of allegiance to Brad, Gudo, a balanced ANS or anything/anyone else.

Open dissent amongst Buddhists seems to be shocking to some and reassuring to others. Not really "dysfunctional" though, is it? Seems pretty "normal" to me.

"I don’t know what is the perfect realization of which the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra speaks. But it seems to me that if the fundamental basis of it is the samādhi of accepting and using the self, then it can’t be a matter of a spine being kept straight vertically, or an autonomic nervous system remaining in balance, or a realistic viewpoint. If the fundamental basis of a fully-enlightened buddha’s full awakening is the samādhi of accepting and using the self, then it must be a matter of accepting the whole self and using the whole self."

That was a really great interview. Thanks for sharing. I love all of your books, but Hardcore Zen is the one that grabs me by the soul every time. I try to reread it once a year. I think I'm about due.

I have a couple of Chinese friends who were totally gray by their mid-20s. And I have a grandfather that lived to 97, who died on his wakk to the pool hall, and an uncle who, at 97, is still relatively young.

He is an agronomist, has maintained an organic garden for 60+ years, and still goes bowling!

I'll post a picture.

My dad, who had heart problems, died at 80 and that's about all I anticipate from this run. The next run may be longer or shorter - wait and see.

Do you mean the bull YOAX? (a seal is the mirror image of the wax it leaves behind) Or the storm god akin to Thor?

When I say: "Mein Gott im Himmel" I am, of course speaking of Thor (and not of the X-Men). The Hebrews (whoever they were) had a Parthenon of Gods like the Norse (who seemed to have borrowed their gods from the proto-hindu animists). The Codex Regius Eddas are apparently transported proto-Vedas.

eMail me and I'll send you the "Name of god" PowerPoint Presentation that I gave more than 12 years ago. You need a full powerpoint install to see the "notes pages." I don't know if OpenOffice cuts the code or not...

The REAL question is what is the nature of the practice of the remaining 34% who claim to be practitioners? Is it listening to Pema Chodron on cd while you take a hot bubble bath? I fear this is probably the case. So in all actuality, your number of REAL practitioners is probably around 1-2%. And out of that 1-2 % there is probably only one person who can manage full lotus for more than 5 minutes without crying, most likely a female yoga instructor who has no interest in zen and whose sole reason for being at your talk is to advertise her new yoga class.

It's a sad state affairs, gentleman. Looks like I'm the only one keeping it REAL.

"The great hope for ongoing epigenetic research is that with the flick of a biochemical switch, we could tell genes that play a role in many diseases — including cancer, schizophrenia, autism, Alzheimer's, diabetes and many others — to lie dormant. We could, at long last, have a trump card to play against Darwin."

Jo Mama said..."nice SS quote (again) Myster. So what have you learned?"

That this illusion of life is actually hell.

In some Buddhist thought, it is called 'the land of shadow and light' while nirbana is 'the land of light.'

Hell is a place in which dualism is a possibility.

This is an underlying principle behind BOTH Jodo Shu and Jodo Shinshu although it is not often mentioned.

Shinran Shonin - the founder of the Jodo Shinshu School of Pure land Buddhism - taught that shadow and light existed within an enclosed cave of perpetual re-genesis.

We don't subscribe to this thought in Jodo Shu. We do have hell - and this (world you are experiencing) is it.

Last week, a student of mine - in a public forum - asked if one could be born cursed.

My answer was that we are ALL born cursed - it's just a question of degree. To NOT be born is to be blessed (to use the cursed/blessed thinking).

I think I could gain the concurrence of most non-Chinese Buddhist scholars on this issue. The Chinese, who made Buddha fat, gold, and happy (and seek good fortune) are generally in denial about this point (IMO).

To quote the poet:"Every one is entirely free to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to be untrue or unsound."

Reading recent Brad's blog's comments sections - the blog that Tricyle Magazine calls "one of the most vibrant, active Buddhist blogs anywhere" - I'm thinking 'It ain't what it used to be'. I guess it always was, and will be, not what it used to be.

One common thread, then as now, is "You don't get it."/"No YOU don't get it," round and round, on and on, me included.

What might all that be about then? Why is it so important for some of us to correct other people's 'mistakes'? What's in it for us/me?

I sold my cherished Marvel comic collection (about 300 of them, including rarities like Howard the Duck nos 1,2,3,4 and some great Doctor Stranges with Gene Colan artwork...and so on and so forth) for £50 in 1980 or thereabouts. £50 was a very poor price, even then. But it bought me a half gram of heroin, which I badly needed that day.

I like confrontation. I like it with a smile. I like it less when it's anonymous sniping but I can even enjoy that. Should people always draw a line? Absolutely.. but where the line is drawn is arbitrary.

Original Buddha WAS a fraud. Could he stop his brain waves during zazen like I can or Wilber can? I never read that he could. Science can and will cull the herd of phony gurus out there. I think we are only a few years away from standardized testing of all spiritual teachers, which means we can finally say goodbye to that "dharma transmission" hocus-pocus once and for all.

Sorry Brad, you can fool the masses but you can't fool the brain scan. I suggest you start preparing.

Confronting one another with opinions about, for example, religion and politics for the fun of it, is good, I think. But confronting one another with, for example, "Your living your life all wrong. You should see, believe, behave and eat as I do" seems not quite right to me. Yet very many of us think - and sometimes behave - that way. My guess: Some of us are very scared and badly need to be right; badly need to prevail.

Well it's all comedy 108. If you take yourself too seriously or confuse your opinions with something real, you will cling very tightly to your views. But if you see your ideas as inherently empty, it becomes difficult to over value them. But still, emotion can over-ride reason sometimes.

like the rest here, stuff around in the buddhist "tool box" for the rest of your lives

i have sorta spoiled things for you, having come across me and now knowing what "authentic" is, even tho you don't agree you are always going to be dissatisfied and wonder deep down what you are missing !

it seems odd to me that you will never move off your “samsara” railtracks given an opportunity to do so, but that's the way it will be !

I'm coming in a lil late on this but in response to the health and vitality comments nutrition is a cornerstone of health. Food and herbs are the only way to rid ourselves of disease. Personally I'm a vegan, I also don't eat soy, corn, gluten, sugar, or wheat. And I arrived at this conclusion via years of research and testing on myself. I'm a nerd about this stuff so I enjoy turning eating into a science experiment. I'm not saying all should eat the way I do, after all I tested it on me not you... But it's certainly easy to see in general that people should eat 'real foods' vs GMO's etc... food in its natural state...simplicity in diet and lifestyle=vitality